Dream chicken run

[AWaferThinMint]

This spring our project is to build a large walk in run for our chickens. Big enough for their coop, shade, sun, perches, the lot.

I'm looking for all your must have's in your ideal chicken run. The best way to feed and water, the most fun perches and toys, your most inventive sand bath etc.

I'm looking for a selection box of ideas to pick out for my girls. So (while money is limited) what are your no holds barred must haves?

The most important things to me would be:

• rat proof
• easy to clean
• complying with housing restrictions (avian flu)

Decent quality mesh that doesn’t sag.
If you want rat proof you need very fine mesh and a concrete base

...and fox proof

My large one was fox but not rat prpoof. I had a raised coop on a slab base though so never had rats. (Bloody squirrels tried it on though but the dogs kept them off.)
It was an unsightly Heras construction with a homemade roof, I'm sure we've done an uplift to the look of the gardens in the area 😁 but it was the cheapest way of giving them a lot of space.

Has anyone used artificial grass to prevent a mud bath?

Over the years, we added various bits to ours:

• clear tarp neatly attached over the top to provide rain protection
• green tarp around the mesh section under the coop to provide wind protection
• inbuilt broody cage (known as The Chokey) up at about chest height for max air circulation with a pull out tray for removing all the mess
• two feeders and water stations
• perch made of logs nailed together
• old skirting board all the way round to make it harder for the mess to get flicked out when the hens are scratching

My best buys are

Grandpas treadle feeder (expensive but good!)

A tyre as a dust bath (get for free from garage)

A few logs and trunks to climb on

A good quality clear tarp for over the top

Aubiose for the bottom, barely needs changing.

We put ours on slabs with a deep Aubiose covering.

This is actually my rabbit enclosure but I have dreams of a second one for chooks one day (I've held off for now as I was pregnant & now have DS so enough on my plate!).

It was secondhand on Facebook Marketplace and needed some TLC, but buying all the timber & 16g weldmesh separately didn't work out much cheaper and I wasn't confident at building from scratch.

Pros:
I love the roof, it makes looking after them in wet weather far more pleasant.
The slab base was bloody hard work (free slabs off Facebook Marketplace, and a backbreaking weekend) but keeps the foxes out, so I'd do that again.
The weldmesh wire is 1 x ½ inch and so far we've had no issues with rats or anything like that.
It was less than full height so I added a hefty timber base to raise it slightly. It also helps weigh it down for very windy weather.

Cons:
The roof is still a bit too low - I wish I'd added another row of timber to the base to raise it further.
The doorframe is not full height & I've clonked my head a few times - so I'd like a full height one on the chooks enclosure.

These are all brilliant thanks.

@BergamotMouse I'm glad you said tyre as a dust bath as I kept my old one that got a nail in last week for just this scenario but wasn't sure it would be ok 🤣

We get rats foxes and badgers round here so my H (engineer) is on the refactor proofing.

I am going to save all this up and use it to plan my design 👍

How many people have runs which stay in the same place? Mine is moved every 3-6 weeks, onto fresh grass(it wanders round a 3 acre field). I realize that not everyone can do that, but I am also planning a fixed, permanent run and wondered how much of a problem it becomes when you don't have a constant supply of fresh grass? Is worming more of a problem, or other health problems?